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Bits: Irish Independent 18,000 Avios vouchers arriving, Which? names the best UK airports

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News in brief:

18,000 Avios for £146 – vouchers arriving

Last week I wrote about a great deal for subscribing to the digital version of the Irish Independent newspaper – click here.  You don’t need to live in Ireland to take part.

You would receive 18,000 Avios points for taking out a €160 (£146) digital subscription.

It wasn’t clear how long the voucher to redeem the Avios points would take to arrive.  The company running the offer was saying 21-28 days.  However, the first batch – for people who signed up on the 22nd – arrived yesterday, so it only took 8 days.

The Irish Independent deal is still running if you want to jump in now that it is clear it is working as expected, not that I ever doubted it would.

Irish Independent digital offer

Which? on the best London airports

Which? magazine has released its latest airport passenger survey.  For those people who giggled when I wrote about how pleasant I found Southend Airport last year, it has been named the ‘Best Airport in the UK’ .

The results for the London airports are actually in line with my own views, except for London City which I find overrated.  The score below is based on feedback from Which? readers across a number of categories such as staff friendliness and helpfulness, baggage reclaim, seating, toilets, and queues at security and passport control.

London Southend – 82%

London City – 68%

Heathrow Terminal 5 – 61%

Heathrow Terminal 2 – 57%

Gatwick South – 52%

Heathrow Terminal 3 – 52%

Heathrow Terminal 4 – 52%

Gatwick North – 51%

London Stansted – 38%

London Luton – 29%

London Luton was named ‘Britain’s Worst Airport’ out of 31 UK terminals surveyed, with passengers marking it down for queues, overcrowding and lack of seating.

Outside London, the top rated airport was Doncaster Sheffield.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (81)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • HP says:

    Just received my voucher too and sent an email to cancel. Have just been sent the response:

    “We cannot take cancellations at the moment as we cannot guarantee we will remember to cancel your account and we cannot be held responsible for this.

    There could be a change of personnel working or something else so I’m afraid we cannot take the cancellation now.”

    It’s just painful……

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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